Educational mechanical toy



March 12, 1940. J CHLQUPEK 2,193,447

EDUCATIONAL MECHANICAL TOY Filed May 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 12, 1940. E. J. CHLOUPEK EDUCATIONAL MECHANICAL 'TOY Filed May 12, 1 I

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 12, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE 4 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in toys, and has for its main object to provide a toy of a novel and attractive type which is also of an educational character mechanically, and in other respects, as hereinafter more particu: larly explained.

The invention consists mainly in a novel construction of imitations of animate objects herein exemplified in a doll, but which may, without departure from the invention, be embodied in reproductions of the bodies and heads of animals; a further and primary object of the invention being to provide means whereby the body or head of a doll or animal may be changed or varied in appearance by simple mechanical expedients, as hereinafter described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Further objects of the invention are explained hereinafter and will be most readily-understood in connection with the description of the invention and reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating suitable embodiments of said invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a rack having a doll, doll faces and garment hanger supported garments suspended therefrom.

Fig. 2 is a detail fragmentary perspective View of the upper end portion of the rack of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional View taken on the vertical plane of the nose and midway between the ears of the dolls head and a.

fragmentary portion of the body of the doll;

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the face portion of the dolls head showing a fragmentary view of the upper rail of the rack upon which said face portion is detachably mounted.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the front face of the rear portion of a head of a doll.

Fig. 6 is a plan sectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 4.

Figs. 7 and 8 are detail perspective views of the device shown as mounted upon the head of the face portions aforesaid, for interengaging the face and head portions of a doll with each other.

Fig. 9 is" a fragmentary detail plan sectional view on the line 9-9 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating a modified form of construction.

The invention in its primary conception comprises the body of a doll including the torso, arms and legs and a head portion which, for reasons hereinafter explained, is devoid of a face. This structure may be defined as an incomplete doll.

is shown in Fig.1 a plurality of faceportions or elements 4, 5, 6 and l which are interchangeable with the face portion 3 andwhich-express different moods of a child or infant. The said faces 3'|, inclusive, are not masksybut are detachable component parts of the head portion 2 of the doll, said head 2 and said respective face elements being equipped with suitable means for detachably engaging the latter with the former for interchange with each other.

Obviously,the several face portions 3 must be so painted as to be recognizable as the same child or infant and such painting isrequired to include hair of the same color as that painted upon the head portion 2. I

In one suitable embodiment of the invention, shown-"in Figs, 3-8, inclusive, the normally incomplete head portion 2 of the doll consists of the rear orbaclehead portionthereof which may, for example, be the portion immediately forward orbehind the vertical plane of the ears. The front surface of the said head 2 is preferably flat and'disposed in a vertical plane parallel with the vertical plane of the ears or approximately so, and in this flat surface portion of the head portion 2, I provide preferably a longitudinal groove 8 (Fig. 6) in which there is mounted a plate 9 of resilient sheet metal having l -shaped side flanges Ill (Fig; 8), the outer portions of which are parallel with the said plate but are offset outwardly therefrom a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the metal of which said member is composed.

The opposed'rear surface'of the face element 3 of the doll is similarly provided with a vertical groove in which a channeled member I I (Fig. 7) is mounted, the outer edge portions of the flanges l2 thereof being turned inwardly to provide inturned lips l3 which are adapted to engage in the recesses formed between the flanges i0 and the opposed bottom wall of the groove 8 of the head portion 2 for effecting telescopic interengagement between the member H and the member 9, the relative disposition of the grooves and the members 9 and it being such as to bring the opposed surfaces of parts 2 and 3 into contact with each other when the members 9 and H are telescopically interengaged with each other, as

aforesaid, and thereby provide the assembled head with a continuous outer surface.

The said flanges H! of the member 9 are equipped with perforations M and the lips 13 of the member H are equipped with inwardly extending projections l5 adapted to snap into engagement with the perforations M as the face and head portions 2 and 3 become disposed with the peripheral edges of the aforesaid flat surfaces thereof in register with each other.

The aforesaid interengaging means are merely exemplary of a mechanical means of any kind adapted to the purpose of detachably coupling the head portion 2 and face portion 3 of a doll (or other figure) with each other. Thus the head of the doll composed of the portions 2 and 3 will, when assembled, present the appearance of a complete head as opposed to disposing a mask over a face with its peripheral edge projecting outwardly along the sides and top of the head, it being obvious, of course, that such masks would necessarily be relatively fragile and easily injured, destroyed or lost.

It will be obvious also that the means for detachably assembling the two parts of the head may be formed integrally with saidrespective parts without departing from the invention.

The advantage of the structure as described up to this point, lies in the fact that the child may interchange the different face portions which express different moods, such as a serious, laughing, crying, sleeping and hungry face, selectively, with the head portion 2 with comparative ease, and in this respect the doll itself constitutes an educational mechanical toy, giving the child possibly its first mechanical experience in assembling and disassembling the head, and is further educational in that the child is taught to recognize the difference in facial expressions indicative of the various moods of a child or infant.

Another object of the invention is to equip the doll per se with another mechanical feature, namely, such as rendering the entire head, composed of one or more parts, detachable from the body of the doll and to this end, the head is equipped with a neck portion 56 which is annularly enlarged at its lower end as. at H. The shoulder portion 18 of the doll-body I, which, preferably, is composed of a resilient material such as rubber, is equipped with a circular opening of smaller diameter than the portion l? of the neck It, so that said portion i? may be sprung readily through said opening and the circumferential inner wall of the latter may embrace the portion Hi, the said head being thus rendered rotatable relatively to the body as well as detachable therefrom.

It will be obvious without further illustration that in place of having a head portion 2 and face portion 3 capable of being disassembled from each other, the complete heads having faces expressive of different moods, may constitute integral elements interchangeable with each other for engagement with and disengagement from the doll body. In such event the heads may be of different complexions and color of hair and eyes as well as different facial expressions.

In place of the mechanical means for engaging the face portion 3 with the head portion 2 of the doll, as hereinabove described, there is shown in Fig. 10, a head portion is which extends preferably to a plane forward of and parallel with the vertical plane of the ears and aligned substantially with the foremost portion of the neck of the doll and is equipped with a peripheral groove 26 disposed in a vertical plane.

In this structure the face portion 2| of the doll consists of a rubber cup, or a cup composed of other suitable resilient material having an inwardly projecting peripheral bead 22 which may be sprung into the said groove 25 in an obvious manner, this means constituting another mechanical expedient for effecting assembly and disassembly of the two component portions of the head of the doll. As the shape of the periphery of the front surface of the head portion i9 is substantially elliptical, the face portion 2!, composed of a highly resilient material, may be distorted as to normal facial expression by turning it arcuately from its normal position on the head portion l9 with comical results.

In Fig. 10 there is also shown a slight modification wherein the head portion H! is hollow and is equipped with an opening in the bottom thereof to receive a projection lQa at the upper end of the neck of the doll body, said head if) or said lea being composed of a resilient material such as rubber, so that parts may be sprung into engagement with each other.

A further object of the invention is to teach children neatness and system in the preservation of the several component parts of the toy and instructing them also in the use of the garment hangers and other wardrobe equipment.

The toy in its complete and present embodiment includes a rack 23 composed preferably of wire presenting supporting base portions 24, a cross brace 25 and a top rail 26 disposed upon the standards or uprights indicated by the numeral 23. The said rail 26 is equipped with a central upwardly projecting inverted U-shaped loop formation 2'! and, at each side thereof and in predetermined spaced relation to each other, with similar formations 28 disposed in a common vertical plane, which, however, contitute the outer end portions of parallel meeting horizontal arms 29 so that they offset from the vertical plane of the rod 26 and loop 27. The said arms 29 constitute supports from which garment hangers-30 may be suspended and the several loops 2? and 28 are of such dimensions as to fit snugly within the channeled members I l of the several face portions 3'! inclusive, herein shown and referred to. Each of the face portions 4--'I inclusive, may thus be readily mounted upon the rack when not in use and the garment hangers 30 may be used to suspend different types of garments from the rack, the length of the hook portions of said garment hangers being such that when the several face portions ll are mounted upon the rack, the neck and shoulder portions of the several garments shown will be so disposed relatively to the face portions 7 as to give the appearance of a number of dressed dolls being supported from the rack, when viewed from the front. Thus the child playing with the toy is afforded further mechanical experience and lessons in neatness, such as the importance of having everything in its intended place.

The details of construction of the rack and the means provided thereon for engaging the several parts to be suspended therefrom or supported thereon may also be changed and varied without departing from the invention, the intent of which is to afford the child a novel mode of play which includes the educational factors as hereinabove particularly pointed out and which, obviously, may be enlarged upon, as for example, by providing a larger number of garments and garment hangers so that a plurality of garments may be suspended from the arms 29 of the rack, one behind the other.

To facilitate suspension of the head portion 2 and body of the doll from the loop 21 of the rack, the head portion 2 may be equipped with a socket formation 3! to receive the loop 21 as shown in Fig. 3. A similar loop receiving formation or slot 32 may be provided in the head portion IQ of Fig. 10 and the portion 25, shown in said figure may be provided in the chin portion thereof with a slot 33 to receive a loop formation 29, but the latter may be of such size and shape as to require the face portions l9 to be sprung over the same as will be readily understood by persons skilled in the art.

The toy of this invention is intended to be used in connection with doll furniture, including a bed to receive the sleeping or sleepy face assembly.

The materials to be used in the manufacture of the doll bodies, etc., etc., may be of any type suited to the purpose.

The term doll, as used herein will include the physical simulations of animals.

It will be further understood, of course, that with respect to the mechanical aspects of the invention, as above described, numerous modifications may be effected without departing from the invention as explained hereinabove and defined in and by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A toy comprising a rack equipped with a plurality of spaced apart upright projections disposed at an elevation above its base, a series of doll head elements each equipped with a socket to receive telescopically the said projections, garmerit hanger suspending means disposed relativeiy to said projections to cause garments suspended from garment hangers mounted on said means to be disposed relatively to said head elements to give the impression that the latter are parts of clothed dolls, a doll body, and means on the latter and said head elements for detachably securing any selected one of the latter to said bodv.

2. A toy comprising a rack equipped with a horizontal bar spaced from its base, said bar equipped with a plurality of spaced apart upstanding projections, a doll body equipped at its upper end with the rear end portion of a doll head, a plurality of doll face portions, the latter and said head portion equipped with interengageable means for selectively and detachably mounting any one of said face portions on said head portion, said means on said face portions adapted to receive telescopically the said upstanding projections for supporting the several face portions on said rack, said head portion equipped rearwardly of said means with a socket for receiving one of said projections of said rack, said projections equipped with arcuate downwardly projecting portions to receive the hooks of garment hangers to maintain the latter in substantial vertical alignment with said projection.

3. A toy comprising a rack equipped with a horizontal bar spaced from its base, said bar equipped with a plurality of spaced apart upstanding projections, a doll body equipped at its upper end with the rear end portion of a doll head, a plurality of doll face portions, the latter and said head portion equipped with interengageable means for selectively and detachably mounting any one of said face portions on said head portion, said means on said face portions adapted to receive telescopically the said upstanding projections of said projections for supporting the several face portions on said neck, said head portion equipped rearwardly of said means with a socket for receiving one of said projections of said rack, and garment hanger suspension means at the base of each of said projections adapted to support garment hangers carrying garments and maintain the neck portions of the latter so disposed relatively to the lower ends of said face portions as to give the impression that dressed dolls are mounted on the rack.

4. A toy comprising a rack equipped with a plurality of spaced apart upright projections disposed at an elevation above its base,a series of doll head elements each equipped with a socket to receive telescopically the said projections, and garment hanger suspending means disposed relatively to said projections to cause garments suspended from garment hangers mounted on said means to be disposed relatively to said head elements to give the impression that the latter are parts of clothed dolls, a doll body equipped with means engageable with one of said projections for suspending same from said rack, and a plurality of doll head elements equipped with meansv engageable interchangeably with said projections and said doll body for effecting completion of the doll.

EUGENE J. CHLOUPEK. 

